US embassy cable - 03HARARE1852

UNCLAS HARARE 001852 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION SUPREME COURT RULING ON ANZ 
CHALLENGE OF AIPPA "TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE," PAPER; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "Travesty of Justice" the independent 
      weekly "The Standard" dedicated its September 14 
      editorial to dismissing Chief Justice Godfrey 
      Chidyausiku's ruling on the Associated Newspapers of 
      Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of Zimbabwe's only 
      independent daily "The Daily News" and its sister 
      weekly "The Daily News on Sunday," challenge of 
      certain sections of the controversial Access to 
      Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) in 
      the Supreme Court as "a travesty of justice." 
      Excerpts: 
 
  2.   "We had long decided to comment on the ruling by Chief 
      Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku to point out that his statement 
      was likely to be interpreted by government security agents 
      as an invitation to once and for all destroy the private 
      press and "The Daily News," which the governing party has 
      considered an irritant for years. . .Thursday's ruling by 
      Chief Justice Chidyausiku that by not registering with the 
      government-appointed Media and Information Commission, the 
      Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ). . .was operating 
      illegally, is a dangerous ruling.  It is dangerous because 
      it has not taken long for enemies of free expression to 
      pounce on `The Daily News' - by crudely shutting down its 
      operations and forcing its printers to stop working.  In 
      fact, the Chidyausiku ruling has larger implications to the 
      media in Zimbabwe: in one stroke of the pen, it gives the 
      Media and Information Commission the legality it so badly 
      strove for, to move and frustrate Zimbabwe's vibrant but 
      small private media. . .However one reads Mr. Chidyausiku's 
      ruling, it is a travesty of justice. 
 
SULLIVAN